Climate change is a culprit in decline of Minnesota walleye

[Nershi]

Last year the dnr reported that the zebs in Mille lacs have not made the water clearer even when the zebs were at their peak (yes they are declining/leveling off).

Winnibigosh now has zebs. They also have a top heavy walleye population. I do not expect winni walleyes to crash (once the zebs explode) because it is loaded with forage. Those walleye don't need to eat baby walleyes because there are perch everywhere.

[Fish Felon]

Last year the dnr reported that the zebs in Mille lacs have not made the water clearer even when the zebs were at their peak (yes they are declining/leveling off).

Got any links?

[Nershi]

I read it in a report they did on the lake but can't find it now. I was kind of surprised when I read it because the lake seems clearer and one would think a critter that filters water would make it clearer. Here it is mentioned in an article from 2014.

http://www.startribune.com/zebra-mussels-decline-on-lake-mille-lacs/272813081/

Officials still aren’t sure what impact, if any, zebra mussels have had on Mille Lacs. The mussels filter vast amounts of water, but water clarity hasn’t changed since they showed up, Jones said. Officials will continue to monitor water chemistry in the lake, to watch for changes.

Who knows how scientific their water clarity study was. If it's just secchi disk readings I wouldn't put too much stock in to it.

Point was, IMO the walleye population issue with Mille Lacs has more to do with the walleyes main forage than it does with slots, nets, invasive, etc. I think they should be more focused on forage than on predators.

Who knows though, I'm nothing more than an arm chair biologist. I tend to listen to the people I know whose family have been living off the lake for decades more than the DNR. They have seen this all before. Difference is there wasn't media to spread the cries back then.

[maplelakeduckslayer]

I tend to lean more towards the forage idea too. Those crazy summers when you couldn't keep 25-28" walleyes out of the boat...boat 80-100 fish and one would be a slot fish? Why were there no small ones caught? Why were the big fish so hungry? And why didn't the DNR realize there was a problem with that?

[Fish Felon]

IPoint was, IMO the walleye population issue with Mille Lacs has more to do with the walleyes main forage than it does with slots, nets, invasive, etc. I think they should be more focused on forage than on predators.

I'm not disagreeing with you. Lack of forage is why the lake crashed and why all the missing year classes became the main forage. But where I think you're not following what I'm getting at is this,

What does the forage eat?

Phytoplankton and zooplankton. Perch fry, walleye fry, other fry, minnows, all eat it.

What do zebes eat?

Phytoplankton and zooplankton. The amount of biomass they now represent in the lake and how much they consume is probably unfathomable.

The lake crashed causing the forage to bounce back which caused the young walleyes to not be the main prey fish which will cause the lake to be too full of fish to where they'll eventually eat all the baitfish and then crash again. Wash, rinse, repeat every 5-10 years.

With the amount of zebes in Mille Lacs it'll never be the same. In most lakes zebes won't be a big deal, a lot of lakes will actually be better with them, but not Mille Lacs. I've ice fished Green Bay and Mille Lacs both multiple times the past several years with a camera and I gotta say Green Bay has nothing on Mille Lacs when it comes to zebes. If it weren't for the mud flats the lake would be toast.

[Nershi]

FF you may be right. The perch have crashed before the zebs were in the lake which in turn made the walleyes "crash". But now that the perch (and other small bait fish) have to compete with the zebs it may be a cycle we see far more often.

It just baffles me that the DNR, along with all the fisherman who are up in arms with the DNR and the natives, have paid little attention to the forage. The only talks about forage have been about tullies which aren't nearly as important to the walleye as the perch. When the DNR talks about zebs they are focused on how they affect the walleye instead of how they affect the forage. The focus seems to be on nets, slots, harvest and predators instead of forage.

[lanyard]

^^^^^ That's because those are measurable and actionable items. Understanding the forage base would take working together and significant professional risk to al involved. They'd all be better off contracting a University (not from MN), to study the lake and how to improve the forage base.

The first step to healing is admitting they have a problem. Challenge is, they all see each other as the problem. Like the family that always fights but doesn't think Dad's drinking is the cause. It's the old "elephant in the room" problem. As long there are symptoms to address no need to attack the cause.